Aeroplane-wing illuminated-sign attachment



Jan. 6, 1925.

S. F. MARTIN AERO PLANE WI NG I LLUMI NATED S I GN ATTACHMENT Filed Jan.28. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheot 1 m mu IN van TOR, TA|1LEY E MARTIN, 9 W a- AHome 2 Shoots-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 28. 1924 mm mm N m mm mm mm .vk m a! er U U U fi W Y m w lNVEHTOR,

LY E MARTIN,

AH'OrHe sli htly STANLEY F. MARTIN, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGrNORvTO AEROLIGET GOR- PORATION', O'F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OFINDIANA.

AEROPLANE-W'ING ILLUMINATED-SIGN ATTACHMENT.

Application filed January 28, 1924;. Serial No. 689,057.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STANLEY F. MARTIN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at" My invention relates to animprovement in aeroplane wing illuminated sign attachment and it is theprimary purpose of my invention to provide means readily attachable towings of aeroplanes for displaying illuminated characters and words thatmay b easily observed and read from the roun when the aeroplane isflying at sa e altitudes.

Many attempts have been made to adapt illuminated characters to theunder sides of aeroplane wings as a means of night display andattraction, but such attempts have always heretofore been unsuccessfulowing to the fact that the characters blur and run into each other andcan not be distinguished at the lowest possible safe altitude and evenrepresents the usual and well known type the ground observer must bedirectly under the plane to distinguish the display at lower altitudes.

My invention provides an illuminated display that may be easily read anddistinguished from the ground when the plane is at altitudes of 3000 to3500 feet and furthermore-may be equally well observed and distinguishedfrom wide angles, sue as during the approach and retreat of theaeroplane over a considerable range. I

Further objects of my invention lie in the adaptation of my signattachment to any wing without removing the wing cover, altering thewing in any, manner, or disturbing the struts; in the securing andshaping of my attachment to the aeroplane wing such that the flyingability and qualities are not interfered with; and in the inter--changeability of the sign cover carrying the display. While myattachment practically doubles the thickness of the average sizedaeroplane wing, I find that the attachment does notin anyway affect thehandling of the aero lane other than the obtaining of a mtter responseto the centre 8.

y mvention is primarily for use in night flyin although t e display,when lllllmlnate ma be observed in daylight; In using the i uminateddisplay, at night, a very e'fiective means of presentin advertising andconveying of messages to t e ground observer is to be had, especiallywhen a num ber of areoplanes'are used with their underside illuminateddisplays flashing on and off in sequence far up in thesky.

I accomplish these and other objects as may hereinafter appear by themeans as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1, is aplan view of m illuminated sign attachment, attached to t e under sideof the wing of an aeroplane, with a fragment of the cover broken away'toshow the interiorconstruction; Fig. 2, an end elevation of an aeroplanewing with my sign attachment suspended under it; Fig. 3, a section takenon the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4., a section taken on the line 4-4ofFig. 1, to show an auxiliary rib installation and Fig. 5 a frontelevation of a leading edge brace.

Like characters indicate like parts in the several views of thedrawings.

Referring to the drawings, the. wing 5 of an aeroplane wing and for thepurposes of my invention is t e lower wing in other than mono-planes, inwhich 01 is the leading edge, 5, the trailing edge, ,0 the outer end,03, the fuselage end, and e the under side. The wing 5 is built up inthe usual and well'known manner with a coverh ing over the spars 6 and 7and the transverse ribs 8 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

To the top of :the leading edge a of the wing 5, I attach a metal shell9 by means of screws 10 assing through the shell 9 into the spar Theshell 9 extends forwardly and downwardly to follow practicallythe samecurvatures as the to side of the Wing,'and then is bent rearwar yparallel to the under side of the win to form a dro approximately equalto t e greatest thic ness of the wings. A similar trailing edge metalshell 11 is secured to the top side of the trailing edge b of the wing 5by means of screws 12 extending through the shell 11 into the ribs8 asin Fig. 4. The shell 11 extends rearwardly and downwardly followingapproximately a slightly greater curvature than that of the upper sideof the trailing edge I) and then forwardly parallel to the under side ofthe trailing edge b to give a drop as in the shell 9.

Within the shell 9 and the shell 11 are the angle strips 13 and 14secured to the shells by rivets r. The angle strips 13 and 14 have aseries of slots 15 as shown in Fig. 1, throughout their entire lengths.Secured to the angle strips 13 and 14 are a plurality of lamp receptaclebars 16 by means of bolts 1'? assing through each end of the bars 16 anthe slots 15 in the angle strips 13 and 14. The receptacle bars 16 areadjustable longitudinally of the wing 5 within the slots 15. The bars 16are preferably made of channel section to insure sufiicient rigiditywith the desired lightness of Weight and are upwardly arched to givelamp clearance as shown in Fig. 3. On each bar 16 are dependinglymounted a plurality of lamp receptacles 18 that are placed inan-electrical circuit by means of the two-conductor cable 19 extendingalong the back of each bar 16, and connecting with each receptacle ofthat bar, which conductor in turn is tapped into the main feeder cablethat is carried along the trailing edge angle strip 13 as shown in Figs.3 and 4. The cable 19 leads to a storage battery carried within thefuselage of the aeroplane. The lamp receptacles 18 are of the miniaturebase type and are adapted to receive the lamps 21 of the 68 volt, 4 c.p. size which I find give ample illumination without too quicklyexhausting the storge battery. A suitable generator operated by theaeroplane engine may supply current as well as the storage battery, or acombination of both as is commonly used in an automobile.

A flange 22 formed in the lower rear end of the leading edge metal shell9 and a correspondingflange 23'in-the lower front edge of the trailingedge metal shell 11 receive a light wood frame 24 to which is securedthe sign cover 25. The sign composed of the frame 24 and cover 25 isattached to the shells 9 and 11 by means of machine screws 26 passingthrough the frame 24 and screwing into the screw-threaded holes in theshell flanges 22 and 23; The cover 25 is made of the usual aeroplanelinen wing covering and has the desired display wording blocked out onit as the word Join in Fig. 1, while the remainder of the cover isrendered opaque such as by painting it black so as to leave that portionof the covering comprising the lettering translucent.

The bars 16 are n'eviously arranged according to the particular sign bysuitable adjustments in the slots 15 and by removal where not required,by placing them immediately back of the lettering and removing thoselamps 21 not coming back of the particular letter, as in the letter N inFig. 1. In order to bring the sign cover 25 back up to conform to thesame curvature as the underside e of the win 5, I place a number ofauxiliary ribs 2 having the proper mamas displaced such as by vibrationby means of a transverse wire 39 extending the length of my signattachment and anchored at each end in headers 30 and 31 used to fill inthe space at the ends of the attachment and to hold the ends of theframe 24. To prevent distortion and the breaking down of the metalshells 9 and 11, I use a plurality of leading edge braces 32, a frontelevation of which is shown in Fig. 5, each having a screw 33 passingthrough its flange into the rib 8 and its, forward endfitting snuglyinto the shell 9, and a plurality of similar 5 by means of throughrivets'as 35.

Any number of sign displays may be made up in advance of their use byhavlng a corresponding number of frames 24 and covers 25, inasmuch as byusing interchangeable frames 24, the remainder of my invention isadjustable to correspond, such as the placing of the auxiliary ribs 27and the illuminating lamps 21 with their bars 16.

Having fully described my invention in the form now best known to me, Idesire to point out that it is capable of many variations in structurewithout departing from the spirit of the invention, and I therefore donot desire to be limited to the precise form as shown, nor any more thanmay be required by the following claims.

I claim 1. In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing, and a source ofelectrical energy, of means for displaying signs, said means being anhomolo ous'enlargement'of said wing and suspended below said wing andhaving an under opaque cover with translucent characters.

2. In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing and a source ofelectrical energy, of an opaque slgn cover having translucentcharacters, said sign cover being suspended below and having the samecurvature as the under side of said wing, means of detachably securingsaid sign cover to said wing. and adjustable means for illuminating thecharacters of said sign cover.

3. In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing and a source ofelectrical energy, of an opaque sign cover having translucentcharacters, said sign cover being suspended below and having the samecurvature as the under side of said wing, means of illuminating saidcharacters a leading edge shell forming an homologous enlargement of theleadin ed e of said wing, a-trailing edge shell forming an homologousenlargement trailing edge braces 34, attached to the wing jun ters,means for illuminating said characters,

said sign cover having the same curvature as the under side of saidwing, a leading edge shell forming an homologous enlargement of theleading ed e of said wing, a

trailing edge shell forming an homologous longitudinal edge of tenlargement of the trailing edge of thewing, said leading and trailingedge shells spacingsaid sign -eover apart from the under side of saidwing and means for removably securing the sign cover to the shells ofsaid leading and trailing edges.

5. In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing and a source ofelectrical energy, of an opaque cover having translucent characters,means for illuminating said characters said sign cover having the samecurvature as the under side of said wing, a

leading edge shell forming an homologous enlargement of the leading edgeof the wing, a trailing edge shell forming an homologous enlargement ofthe trailing edge of the wing, said leading and trailing edge shellsspacing said sign cover below and apart from the under side of sand wingand a plurality of braces from the wing to both shells.

6. In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing, of an opaque sign coverhaving translucent characters and suspended below the wing, means fordetachably securing the sign cover to the wing, a plurality of laterallyadjustable electric lamp support-' ing bars between the cover and thewing,

and a plurality of electric lamps for each bar each lamp being removablysecured to its bar.

7 In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing, of an o aque sign coverhaving characters suspen ed below the wing, means for detachablysecuring the Sign cover to the wing, a lamp bar support a jacent each ewing, each bar having a plurality of longitudinal slots, a plurality oflamp-supporting bars extending from one of said bar supports to theother, bolts passing through the bars and through the slots in the barsupports, and a plurality of lamps removably secured to each bar.

8. In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing, of a hollow extensionbelow the wing comprisin an underside si sheet, a plurality of ii cureof the lower side of the wing located between the sheet and the win andmeans for securing the sheet to the ri a.

9. In an aeroplane, the combination with conforming to t e curvw of saidwing, a trailing edge shell forming an homologous enlargement of thetrailing edge of the'wing,-a sign cover frame secured to both edgeshells and supported in part thereby, a sign cover attached to the frameand a source of light between the sign co ver and wing.

11. In an aeroplane, the combination with a Wing, of a hollow extensionbelow the wing comprising shells attached to the upper sides of theleading and the trailing edges of the wing and extending thenceoutwardly and downwardly in ap roximately the same curvature as that oft e adjacent wing edge and then inwardly parallel with the adjacentunder side of the wing, detachable sign closure means connecting theleading edge shell with the trailing edge shell, and means for bracingthe shells.

12. In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing, of a hollow extensionbelow the wing comprising shells attached to the upper sides of theleading and of the trailing edges of the wing and extending thenceoutwardly and downwardly in approximately the same curvature as theadjacent wing edge of the respective shells and thence inwardlyparallelwith the adjacent under side of the wing, headers to which theends of the shells are attached, detachable sign closure meansconnecting the leading edge shell with the trailing edge shell, andmeans between the headers for bracin the shells.

13. In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing, of a shell attached tothe upper side of the leading edge of the wing and extending thenceoutwardly and downwardlyin approximately the same curvature as that edgeof the wing and thence inwardly parallel with the adjacent under side ofthe wing, at second shell attached to the trailing edge of the wing andXtending thence outwardly and downwardly in ap roximately the samecurvature as its e go of the wing and thence inwardly parallel with theadjacent under side of the wing, headers to which the ends of the shellsare attached, means between the headers for bracing the shells, ribsextending from one shell to the other curved to conform with the underside curvature of the win and e si closure for the space boun ed by theshe s and headers, adjustable means 0 illuminating said sign closure andmeans or securing the closure to the shells and headers and means forsecuring the closure to the ribs.

14. In an aeroplane, the combination with a wing, of an opaque signcover having translucent characters sus ended below the wing, means fordetacha 1y securing the Sign cover to the win a lamp bar support ajacent each longitu inal edge of the wing,

each bar having a plurality of longitudinal slots, a plurality'oflamp-supporting bars extendin to the ot er, bolts passing through thebars from one of said bar supports.

and through the slots in the he! supports, and a plurality oflampsremovably secured to each bar, said lamps, lamp bars and lamplampsimmediately behind said translucent all characters.

Signed at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 24th. day of January, 1924.

- STANLEY'F. MARTIN.

